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[heraclitus]

I completely relate to your experience on a number of different levels.  I do agree with the posters who suggest that you take the adjunct position; it offers an opening, and almost all full-time college positions require previous teaching (which, of course, usually comes in poorly paid part-time week settings).

About your concern about teaching outside of your subject-area, I feel that you should try everything.  Teach as many different types of courses as you can.  95% of the college courses I've taught are not in my subject area, and often in areas, they are in areas where I've not taken a single course (ever).  For humanities fields,  a minute base of knowledge is enough to expand outward (very far afield).  This will make you more marketable in the future.

For my first job, I had taught one course, one time, in a specific area, and this course, required on the job listing, enabled me  to get my first job.  Without it, I would not have been interviewed.

I can also relate to the childcare situation.

Good luck.  Stay confident, and teach many different types of courses.  Congratulations on being a mom! 

[adjunctprincipessa]

You have noted that your salary will not cover the cost of daycare for your child.  I agree with the previous posters who urge you to try to remain in this field or to prepare another backup career plan.  But please also keep in mind the tremendous time that comp requires for grading if you intend to help your students significantly improve their writing.  You may also want to think about the amount of time you are willing to invest in grading as you are creating the student assignments in your syllabus.   

[zuzu_]

You have noted that your salary will not cover the cost of daycare for your child.  I agree with the previous posters who urge you to try to remain in this field or to prepare another backup career plan.  But please also keep in mind the tremendous time that comp requires for grading if you intend to help your students significantly improve their writing.  You may also want to think about the amount of time you are willing to invest in grading as you are creating the student assignments in your syllabus.   

Good advice. And then search the forum for threads on "rubric" to help streamline your grading process.

[bsurev]

As one who has walked the same path...there is no straight forward formula regarding adjunct pay+/-child care=worth. It is painfully not that easy. I am afraid I've missed reference to whether your husband is in academia, and from there, if he understands the industry and can empathize. Mine couldn't, and this became a much more profound obstacle than "the bottom line."

I, too, found myself adjuncting in comp and outside my area. The saints sent their blessings with getting my oldest into the college children's center but, alas, never would the faculty benefit be applied to an adjunct. Yes, we paid dearly, and doubly so when #2 came along (but got sibling priority!). And, yes, in mere accounting terms, sometimes, what got paid vs what I got paid barely broke even.

We still lived like grad students but we were not starving: my husband's law career was definitely picking up speed. As Watermarkup inquired

Can't your husband pull himself out of his office for three hours a week so he can watch junior while you teach one class?

mine couldn't. He was never called out of a meeting because of a sick child; he didn't adjust his weekend billable hours, etc. The issue seemed to come down to what I did--who I was by academic training--wasn't categorically comparable to the other law firm spouses. They all seemed to be attorneys or stay-at-home-moms with all the socio-status bells and whistles. Correspondingly, I got the ultimatum--get a real job or stay at home. He would also make it a point to announce he was not speaking to me because I didn't make enough money to make it worth speaking to me.

Whatever the accounting, I looked at my teaching and having my children at the children's center as an investment in all of our futures. The contact alone with the children's center was a godsend. Teaching comp as a grad student significantly altered my perception of myself on the job market/employed, but I was still on the job market/employed. That somehow motherhood would (should) change that perception so much more drastically than fatherhood should (would) (not) change a male's perspective...

Wanderluster, I don't wish this infantile situation on you or anyone. Do let us know what you've decided.

[notaprof]

Perhaps you should try and get a job at the College of William and Mary.  I think I could get childcare and commuting costs covered with this gig although Norment is planning to give up the job because it didn't cover his commuting costs:

WILLIAMSBURG - On July 1, 2008, state Sen. Tommy Norment boosted his state paycheck nearly tenfold with the stroke of a pen. That's when he accepted a part-time faculty appointment with the College of William and Mary, his law school alma mater.

His annual salary for teaching two courses: $160,000.

For the rest of the story:
http://www.dailypress.com/news/dp-news_norment_1012oct11,0,1419917.story  (via Inside Higher Ed)